“Xanadu Gallery is housed in San Francisco’s only Frank Lloyd Wright building. Officially designed as the V.C Morris Gift Store, the building was designed in 1948, and incorporates the now legendary spiral ramp theme which Wright had already designed for the Guggenheim Museum, though that project wasn’t finished until 1959, shortly after his death. The controversy around the Guggenheim stemmed partly from the spiral ramp, though in the smaller, more intimate scale of the V.C. Morris Gift Store it seems to have won over the public at once. This is by no means, however, its only distinctive feature.”
Elegantly Inviting
“The street entrance is an updated Romanesque arch, which according to Wright beckons the passerby in rather than vulgarly displaying its merchandise on the sidewalk. This is an interesting connotation considering that the building is situated on Maiden Lane, which while now known as one of San Francisco’s most elegant shopping promenades, was a street of ill repute during the notorious heyday of the Barbary Coast. The brickwork itself, a rare enough sight in San Francisco architecture, is beautifully laid, and draws attention quietly rather than competing with the surrounding street. A delicate line of translucent panels with a raised geometric motif that is classic Wright lights the outside wall.” Xanadu Gallery website
The Xanadu Gallery closed permanently on August 8th, 2015.
ISAIA Napoli is the current tenant of the building. ISAIA is a Neapolitan high-end menswear firm that was founded in Naples in the 1920’s.
